A spokeswoman for Sen. Barack Obama sparked a mini-debate over testing last week when she suggested on a national radio show that the Democratic presidential nominee endorses the use of student portfolios.
There鈥檚 debate about what she meant by what she said鈥攁nd even after Sen. Obama鈥檚 campaign clarified her remarks, it鈥檚 still not entirely clear where the candidate thinks portfolios fit into the testing mix.
In response to a question about Sen. Obama鈥檚 view on the No Child Left Behind Act, spokeswoman Melody Barnes said on on National Public Radio on Oct. 21 that 鈥渨e have to deploy and employ the proper kinds of assessments, ... portfolios, for example, and other forms of assessments that may be a little bit more expensive, but they are allowing us to make sure children are getting the proper analytic kinds of tools.鈥�
Michael J. Petrilli, the vice president for programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, suggested on his organization鈥檚 that Ms. Barnes鈥� comments meant Sen. Obama wants to 鈥渄ump鈥� testing under the NCLB law in favor of portfolios, which Mr. Petrilli doesn鈥檛 consider tests.
Later that day, in an e-mail to Education Week, Neera Tanden, the domestic-policy director for the Obama campaign, attempted to clarify Ms. Barnes鈥� remarks.
鈥淪en. Obama has said he supports testing but wants to make sure our tests are better and smarter,鈥� Ms. Tanden wrote. 鈥淗e does not support replacing the current structure of NCLB with portfolios, and to suggest otherwise is a willful misreading of his comprehensive agenda on education.鈥�
Also on Oct. 21, one of Sen. Obama鈥檚 education advisers, Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond, addressed the candidate鈥檚 stance during a debate at Teachers College, Columbia University.
鈥淚f you look at other countries, their assessments include relatively few multiple-choice items, and in some cases, none,鈥� Ms. Darling-Hammond said. 鈥淭heir kids are doing science inquiries, research papers, technology products. Those are part of the examination system.鈥�
Lisa Graham Keegan, an education adviser to the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, maintained during the debate that 鈥渢he problem with backing off of assessments and turning them into portfolios that are more subjective is that we can鈥檛 compare kids. That鈥檚 where we were before we had accountability.鈥�
